Landings systems in the digital era

Upon fault detection, the Braking and Steering Control Unit (BSCU) of an aircraft records detailed information on the system state. Such information can be displayed on cockpit screens or printed on thermic paper. However, this data is not documented and partially, if not totally, coded in. Up to now, the figures generated by the computer could be manually filled-in and decoded through Safran Landing Systems’ customer web portal, which required a substantial amount of time.

The development of the Instant BITE application aims at improving this process. Using a smartphone, engineers will now be able to take pictures of the BSCU TroubleShooting data information. Thanks to the embedded optical character recognition engine, the app instantly recognizes and decodes the data and turns it into intelligible and immediately exploitable graphics, compatible with a short aircraft turnaround time. With this app, the root cause of the event is more likely to be identified at first attempt. This improved and quicker process further reduces the risk of flight delay or cancellation: just shoot, then troubleshoot!

When introduced at the latest Safran Landing Systems’ customer conferences in 2015, Instant BITE had aroused great interest among customer airlines, which have been awaiting its official launch. The app is now available for download on Google Play and Apple AppStore.